Running

Running is a popular sport in Japan, and one of the few sports the country excels at in international competitions. The Women's Marathon Gold Medalist from the 2004 Athens Olympics, Mizuki Noguchi, is a former student of Yamasho, in Ise. Japan hosts a ridiculous number of running events year round, but especially in the Autumn and Winter. Running events are typically referred to as マラソン, irrespective of the actual distance. Don't be thinking your elementary school kid who tells you about the "marason" she ran over the weekend is all that badarse; she probably did a 2km. Ekiden, essentially a long distance relay race, are also very popular in Japan.

Why run in Japan?

Anyone can run. Fact. Even if you're not really into it, races are often fairly sizeable events with mini-matsuri running alongside them. In some cases, the races are the biggest events in the town that year!

Japan is a great place to take up running for several reasons:

• The huge number of well-organised events on offer. Every town across the nation seems to host some kind of running event at least once a year. It's a pretty cool way to get involved in a community event;
• People of all ages/abilities/backgrounds in Japan participate in running events. You'll see elite runners race the same event as men and women in their 70s and 80s;
• It might be your only opportunity to run with people kitted out in such interesting costumes. In my two years of running in Japan, I've run along side the following: a duo who dressed as Nara's Todai-ji temple, a girl dressed as a pineapple (she cut the top off a pineapple and carried it on her head), a bunch of eggplants, a Power Ranger, several "nurses", a stack of tigers and a frog! Pretty entertaining to say the least;
• The amount of support provided by the crowd is INCREDIBLE. People really make an effort to come out and support the runners. It's really heart-warming to run past a tonne of people you don't even know, cheering for you whole-heartedly with their claps, smiles and ファイト chants! It's awesome;
• Japan is a beautiful country and running through the parks, villages and cities, is a great way to experience places whilst getting in a bit of exercise. Nagano hosts some incredible looking runs, Nara has its annual marathon and 10km in early December (you'll possibly catch the tail end of the kouyou), Kyoto has no end of awesome places to run, and lovely Mie, has some great races, including 2 that are rated in the top 100 races in Japan.

Good Places to Run

Shima - wonderfully scenic! Ask the locals for routes though.

Taki - there are some absolutely beautiful places you'll come to if you venture even a little way of Route 42. e.g. paths that run for quite a way along the Kushidagawa between Izawa-cho and the road that links Matsusaka with Meiwa. Also the villages around Mameya are lovely.

Ise - there is a trail that extends from the back of Naiku for several kilometres. It basically follows the river. It's a little hilly but there is very little traffic and it's very pretty.

Komono - ask the locals about routes, but it is very, very pretty!

Route 42 - sure, it's polluted, and not always that scenic, but the distance markers every 100m are pretty bloody handy if you are trying to get a sense of how far you've run.

Competitions

Northern Mie

• Komono : Kamoshika Marathon

  Held every year in mid-October.

Eastern Mie

• Shima : Shima Half-Marathon (?)

  Held in spring every year.